An online community of practice to enhance small group learning and teaching

As blended learning places more content online, it also places greater emphasis on students’ class-time engagement and learning. Ensuring the quality of small group learning and teaching is especially challenging in large enrollment, first year undergraduate courses. In addition, the example course relies on sessional tutors who are dispersed across the week and three campuses. The focus of this paper is on the face-to-face tutorial component of a blended learning model and the professional development and support of sessional tutors, including an online ‘community of practice’, that supports and enhances tutors’ teaching. Example posts from the community of practice are mapped onto community of practice principles and preliminary evidence of engaged tutors and students is presented